We need to talk. It's no secret that the last few CK2 expansions have been dreadfully under served. However it's been extremely reassuring with the patches that have been being made in the last year which gives me hope that the Dev team can leave CK2 a true whole masterpiece before they move on in the near future. What needs to be addressed is the abysmally empty interchangeable experience of playing in the Tibet region, the paper thin "Buddhist" religion and of course Secret Societies.
CK2 has always been a richer experience in christian Europe which is totally expected and I'm not advocating that the dev team become lore masters of the entire world. But certainly many of my issues are the paperthin and shabby experiences provided outside of Christianity and Europe. But my beef is that it is with things that where the intended focus of expansions and I'm still seeking my money's worth out of them. Let's start with playing in the Tibet region. The experience is so bland that you wouldn't know that you're playing in Tibet. How under served is this region ripe with historical tidbits and quirky customs that are made for the CK2 experience which long term players keep coming back for. There is no mention of the rich traditional rituals which were key to the duties of the monastic lords, the intertwined experience of ruling and spirituality, the religious turmoil of Buddhist scholars trying to bring Dharma to a land that had been overrun by esoteric frauds that lured leaders in with rituals of sexual pleasures and promises of powerful magic. How about the countless stories of figures like Milarepa who was dark wizard that massacred dozens and then turned on his ways and lived in a cave the rest of his life turning green from only eating pine needles? Do you really expect me to be content with the only festival being Diwali? Really? How the hell do I know I'm in Tibet? What's the damn point in filling in what used to be a wasteland if the experience of playing anything in the region is such a faceless experience that you could have slapped any portrait or culture on them and I wouldn't have known? Long term CK2 players are not primarily aficionados for conquering more empty space. We are here for the roleplay and our pseudo-historical titillation to put it bluntly. I'm not asking for a true scholarly experience. I'm asking for you to serve the intentions of the historical role playing game that you made. Please if you could find the time to truly do justice for the Tibetan region.
This also goes for Buddhism. Just another blatantly obvious eye sore. A multi-facetious "religion" with innumerable forms of ritual, mythology, practices and a best of all a spiritual goal. Bloody hell, the religion is about improving yourself but yet when I choose the religious focus as a Buddhist I can't even expect charity giving or taking religious retreat being given the flair and terminology of the distinct religion of my character? I'm not asking for an expansion of mechanics just even a rewriting of the events to accurately describe the religious experience would be less of an insult to all the hard work the dev team has put in.
You can see that all the issues I take are not suggestions of a reinterpretation of the game which has been so lovingly built over a long period of time but an addressing of the gaping holes in that game which are an embarrassment. Which of course brings me to Secret Societies. Hopefully Holy Fury is addressing that already. A deepening of events provided by a Society is always more welcome but the one Issue I bring up is the utter lack of societies outside of playing a Christian character. Societies was such a great move as it added a mechanic which helped place us more in the cultural experience of the past. But again underserved when Christiainity was given a deep experience of unrealistic satanic chaos and a bland unimaginative unrepresentative taste of monastic piety which came with different names. Then a quick glance around the map and the addition of just one society for every other region which was a hackjob of poorly re skinning the christian ones. You built the mechanics. Please can you do the extra legwork, give us our money's worth and actually flesh out the societies and better represent the cultures and religions which we paid to experience and expected to be continued to serve. It's real poor when you play in a non-Christendom region and have to experience the game 5 years ago as the further expansions you've bought since then have just been lightly sprinkled on it.
Alrght I'll cease my ramble but here is my outline. As you have been so wonderfully doing in your recent patches and renewed work on the game can you properly flesh out these areas which most of us paid for expecting to receive a full experience. Playing in the greater Tibetan region (cultures, religions, events, annual festivals), as a Buddhist character (The same case could be made for Jainism and Hinduism but Buddhism is by far the worst) and the expansion of Secret Societies still feel incredibly unfinished, almost comparable to beta placeholders, and is so clearly missing a lot of the love and detail present in so many other places in the game. Thank you Devs. Keep up the great work and still serving this game and it's community.
To go on a more wild suggestion. I would love to spend money on story packs. Smaller expansions that merely add more events and story's and don't necessarily affect things to a large enough degree that playing with them or without them radically changes the opportunities of your character. These being payable expansions and toggled in the rules menu, which perfectly facilitates this idea, makes it so they are optional and those who want to play without a clutter of popup events can simply not buy it. These wouldn't require an expansion of any major mechanics just some more writing. It would be a great way to add more to the game in smaller packages at more manageable price point.
CK2 has always been a richer experience in christian Europe which is totally expected and I'm not advocating that the dev team become lore masters of the entire world. But certainly many of my issues are the paperthin and shabby experiences provided outside of Christianity and Europe. But my beef is that it is with things that where the intended focus of expansions and I'm still seeking my money's worth out of them. Let's start with playing in the Tibet region. The experience is so bland that you wouldn't know that you're playing in Tibet. How under served is this region ripe with historical tidbits and quirky customs that are made for the CK2 experience which long term players keep coming back for. There is no mention of the rich traditional rituals which were key to the duties of the monastic lords, the intertwined experience of ruling and spirituality, the religious turmoil of Buddhist scholars trying to bring Dharma to a land that had been overrun by esoteric frauds that lured leaders in with rituals of sexual pleasures and promises of powerful magic. How about the countless stories of figures like Milarepa who was dark wizard that massacred dozens and then turned on his ways and lived in a cave the rest of his life turning green from only eating pine needles? Do you really expect me to be content with the only festival being Diwali? Really? How the hell do I know I'm in Tibet? What's the damn point in filling in what used to be a wasteland if the experience of playing anything in the region is such a faceless experience that you could have slapped any portrait or culture on them and I wouldn't have known? Long term CK2 players are not primarily aficionados for conquering more empty space. We are here for the roleplay and our pseudo-historical titillation to put it bluntly. I'm not asking for a true scholarly experience. I'm asking for you to serve the intentions of the historical role playing game that you made. Please if you could find the time to truly do justice for the Tibetan region.
This also goes for Buddhism. Just another blatantly obvious eye sore. A multi-facetious "religion" with innumerable forms of ritual, mythology, practices and a best of all a spiritual goal. Bloody hell, the religion is about improving yourself but yet when I choose the religious focus as a Buddhist I can't even expect charity giving or taking religious retreat being given the flair and terminology of the distinct religion of my character? I'm not asking for an expansion of mechanics just even a rewriting of the events to accurately describe the religious experience would be less of an insult to all the hard work the dev team has put in.
You can see that all the issues I take are not suggestions of a reinterpretation of the game which has been so lovingly built over a long period of time but an addressing of the gaping holes in that game which are an embarrassment. Which of course brings me to Secret Societies. Hopefully Holy Fury is addressing that already. A deepening of events provided by a Society is always more welcome but the one Issue I bring up is the utter lack of societies outside of playing a Christian character. Societies was such a great move as it added a mechanic which helped place us more in the cultural experience of the past. But again underserved when Christiainity was given a deep experience of unrealistic satanic chaos and a bland unimaginative unrepresentative taste of monastic piety which came with different names. Then a quick glance around the map and the addition of just one society for every other region which was a hackjob of poorly re skinning the christian ones. You built the mechanics. Please can you do the extra legwork, give us our money's worth and actually flesh out the societies and better represent the cultures and religions which we paid to experience and expected to be continued to serve. It's real poor when you play in a non-Christendom region and have to experience the game 5 years ago as the further expansions you've bought since then have just been lightly sprinkled on it.
Alrght I'll cease my ramble but here is my outline. As you have been so wonderfully doing in your recent patches and renewed work on the game can you properly flesh out these areas which most of us paid for expecting to receive a full experience. Playing in the greater Tibetan region (cultures, religions, events, annual festivals), as a Buddhist character (The same case could be made for Jainism and Hinduism but Buddhism is by far the worst) and the expansion of Secret Societies still feel incredibly unfinished, almost comparable to beta placeholders, and is so clearly missing a lot of the love and detail present in so many other places in the game. Thank you Devs. Keep up the great work and still serving this game and it's community.
To go on a more wild suggestion. I would love to spend money on story packs. Smaller expansions that merely add more events and story's and don't necessarily affect things to a large enough degree that playing with them or without them radically changes the opportunities of your character. These being payable expansions and toggled in the rules menu, which perfectly facilitates this idea, makes it so they are optional and those who want to play without a clutter of popup events can simply not buy it. These wouldn't require an expansion of any major mechanics just some more writing. It would be a great way to add more to the game in smaller packages at more manageable price point.
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